I suspect people's dialect and speech pattern can be offsetting to
some folks ears. I had a bit of that feeling when I began listening
to Richard Wolff. Not only the accent, but how he paced his words and
left me with the feeling that he was talking down a bit. But I
totally appreciate his points of view. He's been on Thom Hartman's TV
show several times. Maybe he'll move Thom a bit more toward the Left.
And speaking of how we talk, Thom Hartman has that bland, all American
voice. It never gets in the way of my listening to what he has to
say. But that does not make him right all the time.
Regarding Dick Gregory, I agree that much of his material was aimed at
a Black audience, and they got the message and the humor. Which was
the whole point of his routine. Bill Cosby's routine was aimed at me,
and others like me, and he was very skilled at it. While I can find
the man disgusting, I still can listen to his routines and chuckle
over the pictures they bring into my head.
It's hard to keep the talent of an individual separate from their
actual selves. People want to know all about the folks who entertain
them. Red Skelton was not a nice man, but to a small boy listening on
the radio, he was very funny. Grandpa McCoy, Walter Brennon, was
about as Racist and White Supremist as they come, but I never confused
the delightful characters he played, with the man. The man who built
our house did a grand job. But it turned out that he was a stogy
ultra conservative. While he had bad political judgement, he built
one Hell of a decent house.
So I tip my hat to Dick Gregory, the comic I did not personally find
so funny. The people he reached with his humor needed him far more
than I did. And also there is the fact of this man turning from what
could well have provided him great financial security, to give all of
his support to those people needing him.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/21/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl,
I just finished listening to Democracy Now. Gregory's humor is very
different from Kosby's, I think, because it wasn't solely humor. At least in
the material I just heard, all of the humor included definite social
messaging, most of it, directed at black audiences. In a way, it was a kind
of preaching. And in he end, he was a social activist because his humor was
scene as disruptive to the social system. Amy said that he was not allowed
any more entertainment platforms because of his activism. Any messages that
Kosby had for black audiences, came straight from the white man, just as
Obama's messages did.
As for Jerry Lewis, I don't remember any discussion about him at all.
Perhaps people in different parts of the country, perceived him very
differently. This reminds me of an interchange with a midwestern guy from
the DB Review list, that I had yesterday. It had to do with a podcast
called, Just The Right Book. The woman who hosts it, was an attorney doing
some sort of financial stuff, but she ended up owning a bookshop, or maybe
it's a small chain of bookshops in Connecticut. She's really very
sophisticated and business savvy, but she's in her sixties and has a very
heavy New York, probably Brooklyn or Bronx accent, and I'm sure her
background is Jewish. My internet friend said that he listened to the
podcast a few times, but he was very put off by the way Roxanne talks, so he
stopped listening. Actually, I also find her manner of talking rather
irritating, but not so much that it would cause me to stop listening. I'll
listen to an episode if I'm interested in what she's talking about.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2017 11:30 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Dick Gregory
My sense that Dick Gregory was not as entertaining as some of the later
Black Comics, like Bill Cosby, was not meant to detract from his central
role in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies as a Civil Rights Advocate.
Gregory, in my opinion was far more of an influence through his daily life
than was Bill Cosby, over whom I absolutely fell off my chair laughing. But
Cosby used his enormous talent to satisfy his own greed, while Gregory used
his talent to open doors for all Blacks and people of Color. Amy Goodman
had an hour with clips out of past interviews with Dick Gregory on this
morning. While my respect for him grew, I still found his humor to be not
so funny.
As for Jerry Lewis and my claim that many people saw in him a negative
stereotype of a NYC Jew, That was my recollection of years of hearing people
talk about him. People who "loved" the man, even as they made cutting
remarks.
Maybe I read more into all of that, just because I never, ever liked
anything about Jerry Lewis.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/21/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I wanted to add to this conversation because there was a piece
regarding Dick Gregory on Unauthorized Disclosure that I heard this
morning. I do think that Carl's and Roger's posts have sold him short.
There was an amazing interview with Dick Gregory held in 1964 on a
public radio station in which he responded to the interviewer's rather
naïve questions, with excellent imply phrased explanations of what it
means to be black in America and also, some predictions about the
reactions of white people as they begin to comprehend that they are a
minority of the world's population with less power than they're
accustomed to. There was also an excellent little stand up comedy bit
about what it was like for a black person to order food in a
restaurant in the South. Additionally, Gregory has a history of
working for a variety of causes of which you would approve, starting
in the 70's.
Miriam
